This invention relates generally to apparatus for handling a continuous supply of can ends or like articles, and more particularly concerns a device for developing and delivering discrete stacks of these articles.
Many modern canning plants included not only the apparatus for filling and sealing the cans, but also the machinery for fabricating the can components, namely the can ends and can bodies. With operations of this nature, it is necessary to handle or transport the ends efficiently and effectively between the fabricating machinery and the processing apparatus.
Modern can fabricating, processing and manufacturing equipment operates at relatively high rates of speed in order to attain commercially attractive production costs. To fabricate or otherwise process cans at these high rates of speed, can end parts must be supplied to the processing equipment at correspondingly high rates of speed from an effectively endless supply. To provide this supply without continuous supervision and attention by an employee, apparatus such as that described and claimed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,722,741 and 4,000,709 has been found commercially attractive. In general terms, the can end infeed units described in these patents provide a number of can end carrier members, each carrier member being capable of receiving and storing a separate stack of can ends. The infeed unit carrier members, each filled with its stack of can ends, are indexed to a delivery station. There, an ejector mechanism delivers the can end stack to the intake structure of a processing machine or the like.
Prior to the present invention, the supply of stacks of can ends to the carrier members of the infeed unit as described above was basically a manual operation. Upon manufacture of the can ends they were packaged in kraft paper bags and then palletized for delivery to the infeed unit. At the infeed unit, an operator would dispose the bagged stack of can ends in the carrier member and strip off the paper bag. As will be apparent from the description which follows, the present invention enables the manufactured ends to be delivered directly to the infeed unit without the need for temporary bagging or manual handling.
More specifically, the present invention provides apparatus whereby a continuous stream of can ends may be supplied from the fabricating machinery in face wise array, and this stream is then separated or split into discrete stacks for transport to a transfer station. The transfer station is positioned for operative alignment with the carrier members of the infeed unit or apparatus. Accordingly when an empty carrier member is aligned with the transfer station, a full and complete stack of ends will be deposited in the carrier member for subsequent delivery to the processing machinery. The infeed units of the above mentioned patents, thus functions as an accumulator to store a large supply of ends for delivery to the processing apparatus as needed.
As an additional feature of the present invention, should all the carrier members of the infeed unit be filled, the transfer station is designed to deliver a separated stack to a bagging station. Thus, if for some reason the processing equipment is not operating, or the can end fabricating apparatus is producing ends faster than they can be used, it is not necessary to discontinue fabrication, as the ends may be bagged and stored for future use. Further, it should be noted that the apparatus of the present invention could be used to supply a stack of can ends directly to the processing equipment, or alternately to a bagging station.